Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) Stock Falls 2.4% – Should You Sell?

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) shares were down 2.4% during trading on Thursday. The stock traded as low as $58.43 and last traded at $58.8720. Approximately 8,641,517 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 59% from the average session volume of 21,054,373 shares. The stock had previously closed at $60.33.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on HPE shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a research report on Tuesday, September 1st. They issued a “buy” rating and a $62.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $68.00 to $70.00 in a research note on Tuesday, August 25th. Argus restated a “buy” rating and issued a $70.00 price objective on shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in a report on Friday, September 4th. Raymond James Financial lifted their target price on Hewlett Packard Enterprise from $74.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 3rd. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, September 4th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $65.44.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Trading Down 6.2%

The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $40.71. The company has a market cap of $73.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 28.76, a P/E/G ratio of 0.50 and a beta of 1.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.72 and a current ratio of 1.11.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise (NYSE:HPE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, September 2nd. The technology company reported $1.11 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.93 by $0.18. Hewlett Packard Enterprise had a net margin of 6.60% and a return on equity of 15.50%. The company had revenue of $12.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $11.97 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 EPS. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s quarterly revenue was up 33.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Hewlett Packard Enterprise has set its Q4 2026 guidance at 1.200-1.300 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 3.750-3.850 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company will post 3.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, October 16th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 17th were paid a dividend of $0.1425 per share. This represents a $0.57 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 17th. Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s payout ratio is currently 29.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Antonio F. Neri sold 250,000 shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise stock in a transaction on Friday, September 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.44, for a total transaction of $15,110,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 1,432,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $86,573,832.92. This trade represents a 14.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, EVP Rami Rahim sold 34,456 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, September 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $61.42, for a total transaction of $2,116,287.52. Following the transaction, the executive vice president owned 875,133 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,750,668.86. The trade was a 3.79% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. In the last three months, insiders have sold 585,899 shares of company stock valued at $37,270,329. 0.44% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Barrow Hanley Mewhinney & Strauss LLC bought a new stake in Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the 2nd quarter valued at $1,027,139,000. Primecap Management Co. CA bought a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise in the second quarter valued at $773,225,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the second quarter valued at about $512,721,000. Elliott Investment Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise by 47.2% during the first quarter. Elliott Investment Management L.P. now owns 27,421,735 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $652,912,000 after acquiring an additional 8,790,757 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Hewlett Packard Enterprise during the second quarter worth about $322,718,000. 80.78% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Hewlett Packard Enterprise

Hewlett Packard Enterprise Company (NYSE:HPE) is a global technology company that provides information technology solutions for businesses, governments and other organizations. Its offerings are designed to help customers build, manage and modernize data centers, hybrid cloud environments and edge computing operations.

HPE’s portfolio includes enterprise servers and compute systems, data storage, networking products, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence infrastructure.